Sideswipe

Literal advertising - A Chinese print ad for women's designer handbags

First the mighty Auckland, now private girls' school Diocesan has been lampooned on Uncyclopedia, a parody of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. The writer says the school is known for "producing book-smart show-ponies and trophy wives who are destined to inhabit the suburban traffic nightmare of Remuera, where they are produced and reared". Ouch. But the knife really comes out when describing a typical Dio mini-break ... "Surplus to this, several weekends to the wee bach in Omaha or Pauanui are endured as well as the one in which the Dio girl and her girlfriends spend a few days and nights of drinking margaritas (sic), sunbathing in skimpy Sass and Bide bikinis and bonking with the favourite group of boys from the brother private boys' school." Harsh!

* * *

How to create your own Google News story: Tom Vendetta, a 16-year-old student from New Jersey, wrote a tongue-in-cheek press release claiming Google had employed its youngest intern ever (ie, him). The release was picked up by the Google news service itself and, according to his blog posting, when he saw the press release appear he regretted it. Vendetta describes himself as the "biggest Google fanboy ever" and wanted to ingratiate himself with the company. Instead, he received almost 400 emails in the first few hours after the story went public and his parents are changing their phone number. And, although he did become temporarily famous, Google will remember him only as the teen who told the world that Google News' automated system does not verify press releases before publishing them.

* * *

When Sian Tiong Lim, 32, was jailed for four months in England for orchid-smuggling, orchid expert Eric Hansen told United Press International, "There is a lunatic fringe to the orchid world, and a fine line between the average grower and the horticulturally insane." (Source: News of the Weird)